Entrance Price Increase.. AGAIN!!

[Croftybaby]

I agree, I've not been to a theme Park this year at all, I simply can't afford to take the whole family and justify the huge expense even with just 4 of us.

I guess my family is the type you see on the news. We are average waged, mortgage, 2 kids etc. We are the Theme Parks ideal customers and have been priced out, not just of Alton but everywhere.
£22 is a fair price! Just not affordable right now. Which is why I think Customer Service is the key, because when I finally decide to spend that £150 - £200 on a single day out, with all the prices the same I will be looking at where I will feel like I have got the best overall day out and this is where Alton (and Merlin) are seriously lacking right now.

Anyway, We are fine going to the beach and the park right now.

 

[EuroSatch]

I don't fully understand your point on the cinema tickets and ballet, it's nothing to do with the quality of entertainment, don't see where I suggested the cinema is better than ballet. It's just pointing out that 2 hours of cinema entertainment extrapolated out to the number of hours you get at the park demonstrates that the price isn't hugely difference.

My point is there is no fair comparison to be made from costing time spent with one form of entertainment against how much you spent on it, and comparing against another. Value for money has a hell of a lot more factors involved than that, and it's a false comparison. My point with cinema/ballet is you would probably pay at least 3 times the price for a ballet ticket, so does that mean it's less value for money than watching a formulaic hollywood blockbuster?

 

[Croftybaby]

I paid £50 for five minutes entertainment in a local club on my birthday! Was pretty peeved with the quality, the actress didn't even get dressed and her dance moves were questionable.

Ruddy rip off!

 

[Dave]

I don't fully understand your point on the cinema tickets and ballet, it's nothing to do with the quality of entertainment, don't see where I suggested the cinema is better than ballet. It's just pointing out that 2 hours of cinema entertainment extrapolated out to the number of hours you get at the park demonstrates that the price isn't hugely difference.

My point is there is no fair comparison to be made from costing time spent with one form of entertainment against how much you spent on it, and comparing against another. Value for money has a hell of a lot more factors involved than that, and it's a false comparison. My point with cinema/ballet is you would probably pay at least 3 times the price for a ballet ticket, so does that mean it's less value for money than watching a formulaic hollywood blockbuster?

I don't think the cinema is far removed from a themepark, sure that would depend on how busy the park is but then again your enjoyment of the cinema depends on the quality of the film.

Certainly the quality isn't as far removed as the ballet is from the cinema (I agree cinema is much more entertaining than ballet )

 

[Thomas]

I don't agree that the park should increase its entry price midway through the season, if it were me I'd prefer one increase at the start of the season. I know you could justify the need for a price increase when we've just seen £18 million pounds worth of investment in one ride, but I don't think anyone can justify the full entry price.

Personally I feel sorry for those of us with an odd number of friends, is it the Merlin way that you can only afford to have a visit to one of their attractions if you have an even number of friends? I'm sure I'm not the only one who's had to work out how to divide the entrance fee by 3 to work out how much we as a group need to collectively pay? Otherwise one poor sod gets ripped off!

 

[TheMan]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's had to work out how to divide the entrance fee by 3 to work out how much we as a group need to collectively pay? Otherwise one poor sod gets ripped off!

Certainly negates the value when you have to do this.

Merlin will never do 50% offers often though, as people will definitely start to
A) Question why the gate price isn't just lowered and
B) It will never encourage group visits.

The BOGOF offer is more than just about marketing, it is about attracting organised groups of friends.

 

[Thomas]

I completely agree with you, which is why I think offers run by smaller parks such as the current £25/£20 offer at Drayton Manor are fairer and in fact better value. Still, it annoys me that some people have to pay a frankly bonkers made up number because two of their mates got in BOGOF.

 

[thefatone]

They don't usually.. most people find an extra spare person from another group to join together for a ticket. I've seen staff members help out on the plaza find people a fair few times at most of the parks as well.

 

[GaryH]

One problem discussing price on this forum is that many of us visit with Annual Passes or pay on our "own", I may be wrong, but I dont think there are *that* many people on this forum who have kids, i.e. the average family 2 adults, 2 kids and the average car.

Its the cost to families which needs to be taken into account, not just the high price to get in, to park the car, for fuel to get there, but then also the food and drink, merchandise etc. Add a hotel stay onto this and a family is looking at a VERY expensive weekend.

I think I read somewhere about a family spending £900 for a 3 day break in the hotel and theme park, were not very impressed, and actually found they could have done the same break, but have gone to Disneyland Paris for less and probably had a better time!

 

[Dave]

I don't think anyone has actually said they agree with the high price.

I get the feeling my points are being misconstrued as saying the price is appropriate because of the BOGOF's. I think it is over priced but when you compare the AT prices to other day visitor attractions it's not that different.

That's not to say that the price is right, its more saying that the main-stream UK visitor attraction prices across the country are way too high.

I think if you where to keep the BOGOF system in place (and i understand why they like it) a more suitable price would be around £35. This should include strong discounts for family tickets.

As for the hotels they are in every way-shape and form stupidly expensive for what you get, as is food and drink across the resort (with a few exceptions).

 

[Tom]

But... I would say that it is a fair comparison. You may be queuing for long periods of time but you are paying for a day out. It's not fair to work out the cost against the amount of minutes of the day you spent riding rides - because you're paying for the whole experience and the whole day out.

Besides, you could skew the argument by sitting on Duel all day

That comes down to if you consider queuing to be an enjoyable part of a day out. As I said, with the decline in theming, atmosphere and escapism I don't think queuing is as an integral part of the experience as it once was.

 

[swalesuk01]

Hi in reading through the forum someone was comparing the value of a full price cinema ticket and the BOGOF Alton vouchers as I agree you could compare them as both offer escapism, my only issue is you should break down the price to £4.50. My reasoning to this is most people I know and especially families go on Wednesday's to take advantage of Orange Wednesday, which is also a better way to run it as its only 1 day a week so limited to use meaning if you do pay full price at a weekend it feels even more of a treat. Secondly people saying you can't get a 50% voucher which is not technically true but is more like the good old days of the BOGOF vouchers when you see them you have to grab them quick. Though my main issue with the vouchers being so easy to use it means people can stand around the queues and sell them. I think last time we went with friends and queued someone approached our group and wanted £5 for a very readily available voucher.

 

[AstroDan]

The usual.

Been going on for years now.

Let every pound, dollar, euro count.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Vik]

I don't think anyone has actually said they agree with the high price.

I get the feeling my points are being misconstrued as saying the price is appropriate because of the BOGOF's. I think it is over priced but when you compare the AT prices to other day visitor attractions it's not that different.

That's not to say that the price is right, its more saying that the main-stream UK visitor attraction prices across the country are way too high.

I think if you where to keep the BOGOF system in place (and i understand why they like it) a more suitable price would be around £35. This should include strong discounts for family tickets.

As for the hotels they are in every way-shape and form stupidly expensive for what you get, as is food and drink across the resort (with a few exceptions).

I think basing getting value for money in purely monetary terms whittled down to costs per hour and then comparing this with the cost per hour of other leisure activities (which may or may not be a like for like comparison), is maybe why your points maybe misconstrued somewhat, especially when comparing 1/2 entry in to Alton Towers to a full priced cinema ticket?

Getting value for money is much much more than simply cost per hour. This is one factor, but one of many others. Visiting a Theme Park for example other factors will include numbers of rides ridden, length of time queueing, over atmosphere, feeling of escapism amongst many others. Value for money at the cinema (whether paying full price or making use of a 1/2 price offer such as 2 for 1 Wednesdays), will include whether you found the film enjoyable, overall comfort, waiting time to purchase a ticket etc.

Also the headline price to enter Towers could make people think twice about planning a trip. That is the first price they see when looking around for deals. Whilst there are offers aplenty, how many people will be put off by that on the day price before even bothering to research for better deals? Is the lure of BOGOF vouchers to entice the masses more than enough to compensate for those who simply see the headline rate and decide against visiting? I would imagine so yes, otherwise they wouldn't do it the way they do now, but telling someone how much a full priced ticket is is never easy .

Also, the comment about the latest price rise being less than inflation. Yes, maybe, but the fact that prices risen at the start of the season has been conveniently brushed under the carpet. And who is to say there will not be another rise before end of season?

These small increases here and there are pretty much stealth increases. Added a pound here, 60p there, maybe another 50p later on for good measure and these little rises more or less go unseen by the vast majority. This is similar to what oil companies do; Add a penny on to a litre of petrol every 5 days or so, by the end of the month prices are 5 or 6p higher than at the start and you've barely noticed because its been a penny at a time. Before we know it, a full price ticket will be £50. (I predict by start of 2015 season based on a £1 rise at start of next season plus a small increase mid season, or at the very earliest, near the end of next season if there is another price rise the season.

 

[Bob]

One problem discussing price on this forum is that many of us visit with Annual Passes or pay on our "own", I may be wrong, but I dont think there are *that* many people on this forum who have kids, i.e. the average family 2 adults, 2 kids and the average car.

Its the cost to families which needs to be taken into account, not just the high price to get in, to park the car, for fuel to get there, but then also the food and drink, merchandise etc. Add a hotel stay onto this and a family is looking at a VERY expensive weekend.

I think I read somewhere about a family spending £900 for a 3 day break in the hotel and theme park, were not very impressed, and actually found they could have done the same break, but have gone to Disneyland Paris for less and probably had a better time!

If its too expensive for the family of four to go to the park then they shouldn't attempt to be going. I can't afford to shop at Harrods so I don't deliberately go there, buy the items then leave moaning about how expensive it is. Surely anyone with common sense knows that a day out to a theme park is expensive, it's not like you can't do any pre-planning for the trip by looking on its website or Facebook page to see entry prices. It's the quality of the day out that should be in question if people are choosing to pay £900 to visit. Sometimes Alton gives a cracking day out, sometimes it doesn't. My main critique of the park is that it should always be delivering a top quality day out.

 

[Tom]

You can't slate people for wanting to evoke change and not simply accepting the status quo all the time.

 

[EuroSatch]

Not everyone can take that elitist view of entertainment being available for those who can afford it

 

[Dave]

maybe why your points maybe misconstrued somewhat, especially when comparing 1/2 entry in to Alton Towers to a full priced cinema ticket.

Except I compared cinema tickets with full price Alton Towers tickets.

Choose what you want to compare, a stately home, other theme parks or cinema/ theatre you never get a more than a £10 difference between the two.

Doesn't make the price right, just means the whole industry is bonkers

 

[IanB]

Choose what you want to compare, a stately home, other theme parks or cinema/ theatre you never get a more than a £10 difference between the two.

Apart from some theatre shows cost £80/90 for a ticket, Football tickets can be £120+, F1 can be £150+. I think you can only compare Theme Parks, with other Theme Parks, as comparing it to a Theatre show, is like comparing oranges and apples. They might both be round, but they taste completely different.

At the end of the day, as long as people keep visiting, the price is not to high. (Its a whole different argument about how low the price should go to allow families on low income to visit, but Towers do offer the Sun Promotion, which allows a family to get in to the park for the price of 10 copies of the Sun newspaper) Once visitor numbers start dropping, the park will have to do something about the price, but as long as people keep paying, nothing is going to change.

That does not mean we are not right to raise the issue, the current prices in our opinion is not value for money, and if this is how other guests feel when leaving, they are not going to plan on returning any time soon.

I also have a sneaky feeling that Merlin are happy for the prices to constantly rise, to make the Annual Pass a more attractive option, as once you get one of these, the temptation to visit other Merlin attractions which would then cost nothing to visit, would be greater than visiting another attraction which they would have to pay to get in.

Ian

 

[Dave]

Choose what you want to compare, a stately home, other theme parks or cinema/ theatre you never get a more than a £10 difference between the two.

Apart from some theatre shows cost £80/90 for a ticket, Football tickets can be £120+, F1 can be £150+. I think you can only compare Theme Parks, with other Theme Parks, as comparing it to a Theatre show, is like comparing oranges and apples. They might both be round, but they taste completely different.

I am going to do my best to follow the rules of this forum and not go nuts here but

I have not compared the theme park tickets with any extreme end of the leisure spectrum i have used single day visit attractions and cinema tickets to make a generalised comparison!

I used cinema as an example as it is a regular event for many people unlike theme park visiting which for non-geeks is a one off. Just to make a point that regular leisure isn't that much cheaper than for what many is a treat.

Geeks can forget what for them is monthly for many is yearly if they are lucky.

anyway....